were afraid because it was named he "widow maker." the women flew the planes and loved every minute of it. they were an incredible group of ladies that my wife and i got to meet when the congressional gold medal was the stowed on them in 2009. process, it is a pencil drawing. i may go through 45 different versions. the design and history of the congressional gold medal. we hear from the graphic designer and we show you the ceremony. that is at 8:00 eastern on c-span. of the thanksgiving holiday, obama addressed national security concerns and said that, while there are no specific or credible threats united states, americans should remain vigilant. here are the remarks. after paris and going into the holiday season. i think that all of us recognize how heinous what took place in paris was. us, said, for many of and a way of life that is so familiar to us here in america. given the shocking images, i know that americans have been asking each other whether it is safe to fly or gather. i know families discuss their fears about the threat of terrorism around the dinner table for the first time since 9/11. it is understandable that people worry that something similar could happen. watching these events in paris made the threat feel closer to home. going to thanksgiving weekend, i want the people to everyhat we are taking possible step to keep the homeland safe. i.s., we are going after and we have had this strategy for more than a year. we will speak about this in greater detail in the coming weeks. let me remind people of the coalition. so far, the military and the partners have conducted 8000 airstrikes that, along with our partners on the ground, have taken out key leaders in iraq and syria. we work to choke off the finances and the supply lines. and, even as america is supporting airstrikes in syria, the country is going to step up the coordination further and do more work together. we are stepping up the pressure and we will not let up. beaten go until they are . second, we continue to do everything possible to prevent the attacks at home and abroad and prevent foreign terrorist fighters from entering. we have taken extraordinary measures to strengthen our security and information sharing. on thesemproved actions over time. anytime there is an events, we learn and we continue to improve on approaches. right now, we know of no specific credible intelligence indicating a plot on the homeland. this is based on the latest information i just received and it is similar to the information at the briefing that i received on saturday before i left a my trip last week. travel to be with their loved ones and i want them to know the counterterrorism and law enforcement professionals at every level are working overtime and are continually monitoring threats at home and abroad and evaluating security. they are constantly working to protect all of us. they have prevented attacks and save lives. hour ofe served every every day for security and have done so before paris and now. andout fanfare or credit without a break for the holidays. so, the bottom-line is that i want people to know that the combined resources of the military, intelligence, and homeland security agencies are on the case. in the event of a credible threat, the public will be informed. we think it is useful for people to go about their business and be vigilant. something, say something. that is always helpful. with family and friends and celebrating the blessings. while the threat of terrorism is , it is in the place. it is something we can all be thankful for. happy thanksgiving. >> jeh johnson reiterated the remarks. no specific and credible terror threats. he spoke at union station in washington, d.c. >> do you want to join us? >> i want to catch my train and by thenored to be joined chief of the capital of police. , wehe president said to not know of any specific or credible threats of a plot , continued to be vigilant and and monitor what is happening here and for public safety. working to protect the homeland and reevaluate what we see. public.to encourage the if you see something, say something. it has to be more than a statement. this holiday weekend, i would like everybody to express thanks to those in law enforcement and homeland security. it keeps us all safe. for a couple of questions. [indiscernible] >> are you aware that mexico has been threatened by isis? comment on: i cannot specifics. we are in contact with itorcement continually and is something we are monitoring very closely. i am aware of the case you referred to. it involves families. i cannot comment more specific than that. heard repeatedly from security experts that say that there is a potential insider and most are not screened. april, i put out the directive to tighten up airport security around those who work at airports. we have more continuous random screening of airport personnel whetherre evaluating more is necessary. it is something that we have focused on as recently as today. differential in sizes of airports, you take atlanta and there is something like 63,000 people. and airport security is something that tsa works in collaboration with the local airport authorities, the city, the mayor, the commissioner and .he security people this is something we focus on and will continue to focus on. a credible not threat at this point? the question is if there are communications and you are so certain there is no credible threat. with the same thing be happening here in the united states. >> we are focused on a potential copycat act similar to things that have occurred overseas and we focused on a lone actor and we have seen some of that overseas in recent months. we are going to continue the efforts. we are vigilant and we are aware around the country. reinforcing of existing security measures and that theree of this is a heightened presence. in general, we want to encourage the public. travel and be with your family to celebrate the holidays. go to public events and gatherings. the vigilant and aware. thanks. >> transit workers? >> and update on operations and stand from the enterprise institute on the state of the u.s. economy. it is followed by the work in congress to update the new child left the hind. live everyjournal is morning and you can join the conversation. the designing and history of congressional gold medals. it is a high honor. we will show you the ceremony. that is at 8:00 on c-span. the debate on raising minimum "washington journal" continues. host: coming up next, we are going to talk about efforts to raise the minimum wage across the country. in particular, this fight called fight for $15. discussionroundtable across the country. we i joined here at our "washington journal" table by james sherk with the heritage foundation. and joining us from kansas city is kendall fells, the organizing director in the organization called fight for $15. kendall fells, let's start with you and ask you about this effort, fight for $15. what is behind it? guest: i think first we have to take a step back to about 36 months ago, about 200 fast food workers in new york city when on strike. they had to demand, $15 an hour and the right to form a union. fast foode when workers went on strike, people thought they were crazy. here we are, 36 months later, and you see victories all across the country. $15 in l.a. state,tewide in new york where about 150,000 to 200,000 fast food workers receive $15 san francisco, seattle, companies like facebook, i can go on and on. the point i making is these fight for $15 workers have created a movement in this country that is changing politics as we know it. i think working people now say when they come together, their voices can be heard. you see in the victories that politicians and companies are listening. and now these workers have their eyes set on the 2015 elections. minimum wageeral is $7.25 an hour. that is over doubling, correct? why such a big increase? guest: when you look at fast food workers specifically, over 52 percent of them are on public assistance. used to feed, house," these workers because companies like mcdonald's -- workersnd clothe these because companies like enoughd's don't pay them to get food, clothing, and shelter, and just able to survive. sherklet me ask james from the heritage foundation. what happens? what is the economic impact we have seen or is there any evidence so far of what happens when the minimum wage gets raised specifically by that amount? guest: there is no doubt that people are struggling. this has been a very weak economy. but what we need are policies that are going to hell. the congressional budget office estimated that if we went to $10.10 an hour, that would cost half a million jobs. we really don't have a lot of evidence on what will happen if we go to $15 an hour, because neither us nor any other industrialized nation have tried to raise the minimum wage that high. has a cost-of-living and per capita income about a third of that of the u.s. when they went up to the federal minimum wage, this was something in the neighborhood of $15, $20 an hour here. one of every 11 jobs on the island disappeared. fortunately for them, they have the ability to immigrate to the mainland. jobs disappeared. we don't have a lot of evidence, but the evidence we do have is pretty concerning. host: when was the last time the federal minimum wage was raised last time? guest: in 2009. since then, you have about 25 or so states that have minimal wages above the federal minimum wage could host: we want to invite our viewers to join the conversation. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. independents2 for and others. theif you are earning minimum wage, and understand that could be different in the city where you are, a special line for you, (202) 748-0003 f.r we will get to your calls momentarily. kendall fells, about that minimum wage, it is different from state to state or cities to city. -- city to city. is it your intention to move this $15 our effort -- $15 an hour effort nationwide? $15 an hour for all job categories? guest: here's the thing, fast food workers are really spearheading the fight for $15. but when you look at everyone that is coming out to the rallies, people have been motivated by these fast food workers. you see childcare workers, convenience store workers, etc. food workersst really want, they want mcdonald's to come to the table and negotiate. what you have seen as politicians that have gotten caught up in the momentum and they are responding to the demand. at the end of the day, low-wage workers, it is about 64 million of them in this country. and they want $15 an hour. workers need enough money to be able to survive in today's economy. host: tim sherk, getting back to your comment, the report on whether they raised it to $10.10 an hour, would there be an economic impact if they raised it to $7.75 an hour? eight dollars an hour? isst: the fact of the matter there are not all that many workers making the federal minimum wage right now. they put out a report every year, and i would invite the listeners to google that report. what you can see in that report is there is about one million workers making at the federal minimum wage. and 2 million workers making below the federal minimum wage, and that is tipped workers at restaurants. host: let's see what our viewers' experience is. florida, this is mike on our republican line. caller: good morning to you. i would like to wish everyone a happy thanksgiving. i would like to direct my comments to mr. fells. mr. fells, i don't want you earning $15 an hour. 25 dollars,arning $50, or hundred dollars, $200 an hour. and the concept structure of employment and working in america is centered around -- you have to advance your skill level. unfortunately, pretty much every single job at a fast food establishment outside of very little,quires if any, skills. meaning you could take a human being and bring them in and in two hours they could master the skills. i'm not saying it is not demanding work and i'm not saying it doesn't have value, but the value that it presents -- it doesn't equal $15. and if i can, c-span, i need to talk a little bit more about the financial -- this all comes down to the value of our dollar. and various socialist laws that are being passed, does mr. fells understand how obamacare has directly affected fast food workers and the hours? host: a couple good points there. guest: i think the facts speak for themselves. when $7 billion a year in tax dollars are being spent to subsidize workers who work for companies like mcdonald's, who makes $5 billion a year, the fast food industry is a $200 billion a year industry and has the largest this party between the front-line workers and the ceo -- more than a thousand times as with the ceo makes more than the front-line worker -- i think the people realize the only way we are going to get the economy back on track is to get in the pockets of low-wage workers. taxpayers are forced to pick up the bill well companies make off with stacks of money. and now you see that dynamic changing, and you see -- you know -- since this campaign study, over 12 million workers have received a raise. there are children and families who are going to have better holidays because of this campaign and what workers have done. think we arehat i at. host: your response. guest: i think the gentleman has point on the minimum wage being more of a learning weights. the fact of the matter is a majority of the american workers started out making within a dollar of the minimum wage. a report they did a few years back. more than half the people watching us today started out at minimum wage. very few of those people are still on minimum wage. two thirds of minimum wage workers get a raise within a year. it typical race about 25%. you start out with your skills. skills, this like showing up regularly for work every day. host: on this learning wage bill, do either of you know what the average age of a fast food worker would be? guest: again, if you look at the bureau of labor statistics report, what you can see is 56% of those were making the federal of between the age of 16 and 24 years of age -- of betweenimum wage the edge of 16 and 24 years of age. when: there was a day teenagers are trying to get bags. now they are adults trying to pay mortgage and keep food in their refrigerator. host: from massachusetts, ray on the independents line. caller: hi, how are you jekyll i wanted to say -- you? i wanted to say my girlfriend worked at walmart for 16 years. she got ms and they used to have seminars to tell those people how to get on food stamps, how to get health insurance. they used to have seminars. there years of working way to is diagnosed with ms, they took her discount card away from her. you know? i mean, sure, the republicans got the midterm election, but let me tell you something. come the new elections, everybody is going to come out. you only had 26% of the people vote in the midterm. wait until this next election. you will see a big change. thank you very much. host: here is texas, independent line. go ahead. caller: good morning. i was just -- i just don't understand why it is a big problem if the democrats says something -- say something -- [indiscernible] -- i sang that the minimum wage ought to be $15. but when a democrat was saying it, it is wrong. but now with the republicans now even calling in on the show saying it is hard for somebody to live on $15 an hour. is a thing try to keep upper in order where the is try to keep everybody in check if you do this or that. i'm just going to leave it right there because i can't get it all straightened out. but they try to paint a picture of where you should be, but everybody needs to make good money to survive. to oreople are working three jobs and still can't pay their bills. was talking about politicians, their comments on the campaign trail about the minimum wage. we have heard in particular from hillary clinton. here is what she is calling for in her efforts to boost the minimum wage. mrs. clinton: the overall message is that it doesn't result in job loss. but if you went to $15, there are no international comparisons. that is why i support a $12 national federal minimum wage. that is what the democrats in the senate have put forward as a proposal. but i do believe that is a minimum. and places likes yet a, los angeles, new york city -- like seattle, los angeles, new york city, they can go higher. is the hardest way to move for because if you go to tall dollars, it would be the highest historical average. host: do you think this is an issue best left to individual cities and states? guest: i think absolutely this is an issue that should be addressed local -- as local as possible. means very different things in new york city than west virginia. $12 an hour in san francisco and $12 an hour in memphis, tennessee are very different things. trying to impose a uniform federal minimum wage simply cannot account for those local cost-of-living differences. you could have an economy that is never session where jobs are very hard to come by. wage doesn't take that into account. host: the organizing director of fight for $15, tell us about your local campaigns, or local successes and some of the failures. guest: when you look across the country, i think the evidence is overwhelming. you look at a place like new york state, governor cuomo, who is really far from a part of the economic, kind of the liberal economic speaking -- thinking, so to speak, next thing you 150,002n hundre -- 200,000 workers -- what hundred 50,000 to 200,000 workers are at $15. if you look at l.a., same thing. through the city council, $15. seattle, the same thing. alabama, $10.10. $11 in st. louis. facebook raised their wages to $15. so on and so forth. the democratic party has picked up $15 as the platform for 2016. i think what you see is politicians specifically relies that in november, there is going to be a referendum on wages. and these workers need $15, and they need it now. the voting bloc is about 64 million workers across this country who make less than $15 an hour. in north carolina, 2 million or more workers make less than $15. florida, 4 million or so workers make less than $15. just moving a fraction of those workers to the polls couldn't swing elections all across the country. i think this movement has been extremely successful. 36 months ago, they said these workers were crazy. now the democratic party has picked up the platform. nicely companies raising their pay to $15 voluntarily. and you see rob emanuel in chicago going to $15. togetherers all come around simple demands, change can be created. host: our conversation this morning about raising the minimum wage with james sherk and kendall fells, we welcome your calls. (202) 748-0003 for those of you making minimum wage. guest: what is interesting, if you look at the polls, 75% of americans oppose raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. including a lot of those who are below $15 an hour. the reason for that is because people realize it would be very destructive and lose a lot of jobs. the company is not going to hire a worker unless the revenue and the additional productivities that they are bringing in for the company is more than their weight. you have a worker that only produces $12 or $13 an hour in value for the company, they are not going to get hired at $15 an hour. host: the democrats line. caller: good morning, gentlemen. host: good morning. caller: i just want to say as a person that owns businesses, a minimum wage -- at times, i get ,eople that were so worthless and of course i give them the but many went on to do much better. the thing is this $15 for everyone? no. they have to learn. it takes time. you keep on working and working and working, and to learn. guess what? you can find a better job or your boss will give you better wages. host: let's hear one more call and get a follow-up from our guests. ian, new york, republican line. caller: i run companies, too, and capitalism dictates wages. nathan's says, well, $10. he will have more. just like the gentleman said. manhattan does great. can give a higher wage. i would like to see some union higher-ups buy a franchise and try to charge whatever they can cause to get there 30 bucks or 15 bucks an hour wage and see if it works out because you have to be able to adjust your weight. maybe your company does good enough to give your employees 15, but then they are in hard times and says, listen, i'm going to go under, can we go to 12 bucks? you can have the government come in and set wages. now people are walking to the door. how is that fair to him? a manager working 10 years to make 30 in our. host: kendall fells, your thoughts. what are you hearing? guest: you know, i just think that taxpayers and voters have already spoken. no one wants to live in a he works atre -- mcdonald's and a burger king for 60 to 70 hours a week, yet he is still on state assistance, he is still homeless, he still struggles to feed his children could i think that we are -- children. i think we are at a place in this country people do not want to live in a country where you can work 60 or 70 hours a week and still live in poverty. i think taxpayers are tired of paying $7 billion a year, $1 billion a year just for employees to work at mcdonald's, just so the fast food industry can make off with billions of dollars in their pockets. this debate has already ended because the facts speak for themselves and wages are being raised all across the country. by three being raised dollars, four dollars, five dollars, six dollars depending on the city and state you are talking about. the workers have already won. host: what are you hearing? guest: i think he has an excellent point. it is, in fact, very expensive to get by. but his solution is the wrong way of going about it. there was a study that came out last year from some economists who look that workers making the minimum wage in 2008, 2009 when the last increase went through. following the earnings a few years after, their monthly earnings had dropped by $150 a month. weren'ty because they building as much experience and went getting as much of a raise. the proponents of a higher minimum wage wanted to help these workers get ahead, and their monthly earnings fell by $150 a month. a much better approach would be to focus on the cost of living. there are a number of different regulations at the federal, state, and local level that make it more expensive to rent a house, more expensive to buy a car, more expensive to buy groceries. americaage family in would save about $4400 year if we got rid of these regulations. i think that is a much better approach of doing it. i agree, the cost of living is too high. but the solution to that is to not put them out of a job. the solution is to get rid of these cost drivers. host: next up on "washington journal," john maryland. the mckay's line. -- democrats line. caller: the last bigger had some good points. i think you might be understating it when he says the minimum wage is zero had certainly no one -- -- zero. certainly no one is going to work for a zero. no company would do business for no money. i guess except for nonprofits. what i heard in reference to people earlier about how many people were at the minimum wage, how many people were under the minimum wage, i wanted to know if that included the over one million workers that are currently in prison making $.15 to $.30 an hour? are you including those workers? guest: to answer the gentleman, though statistics were not include people in prison. and there are valid concerns about taking advantage of prison labor. i think that is a valid concern. when i said through dollars an hour, it was a reference to unemployment. somebody doesn't have to hire you. in $10 an bringing hour in revenue and somebody has to pay you $50 an hour, you are not going to get hired. host: you can tweet us at @cspanwj. senioreads, as a retired living on a fixed income, i can hardly afford to go out for dinner now. a raise in prices will hurt me now. and, we need a new category for wage earners? that all business owners can survive paying $15 per hour. kendall fells, what do you think? guest: i think that the fight for $15, what you see is a call for large corporations, like mcdonald's, like burger king, to step up to the plate. and that it is past time for these companies to give back to the employees what these employees have given to them. worker productivity is on the rise. there was a poll done in new york state after the wage board was done, and about 70% of folks in new york state said they would support -- that they do support a raise in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. and they wouldn't mind paying a little bit more money for a big mac or some fries to make sure that the workers that work in the stores were making a living wage or they can keep a roof over their head, foot in their mouth, and close on their back. backs.hes on their once again, you see overwhelming support not only for the $15 minimum wage, but also for even having to pay a little bit more money in order to make sure workers can get off state assistance. host: tim sherk. guest: it is one thing if you're talking about a little increase in prices, but that is not what would happen. year put out a report last , put in my name and fast food prices in google and it should pop up. it typical fast food restaurant would have to raise their prices 40%. who is paying that bill? it is not the so-called 1%. you are primarily talking about lower income and middle income families. it is an enormous price increase. that was analyzing who bears the price increases when the minimum wage goes up, that is how the businesses adjust, their costs go up, they have to charge more. and it hits lower income families and middle income families have your than it hits higher income families -- have your than it hits. -- heavier than it hits higher income families. on net, it is a transfer away from lower income families towards middle and upper income families. raising prices is not a way to boost prosperity across the economy. host: this is a carver township in new jersey, frank, good morning. caller: good morning. this all started back in 1938 when the wage labor act was passed. between 1938 and 1950, it had risen 300%. , we were at $1.40 an hour as a minimum wage. at that point in time, a kid working in a fast food establishment making $1.40 an hour could afford to take himself and a girlfriend to the movie, have dinner. two of his friends and him could get an apartment, a decent apartment. i lived up in the new york city metropolitan area at this time. and now you look around and these kids, they can't afford to buy insurance for their cars because cars are so expensive. a decent used car now, 7000, $8,000. when i was a kid, $150. if you do the math and you look at the way the wages have grown over the years, they are not keeping up with inflation at all. host: frank makes a good point. cnnmoney did that exact same thing and looked at that cap between the inflation-adjusted wage. he was talking about the mid-1960's. there is that real spike there. for our radio listeners, i apologize. but at the peak, the adjusted minimum wage was $10 an hour in the early 1970's. right now, it is about seven dollars an hour. there is really no adjustment for inflation and. guest: this is one of those cases where the devil is in the details. and the detail is: how do you adjust for inflation? they use an inflation measure called the personal consumption expenditures price index. there is another measure of inflation that is more widely known called the consumer price adjustwhich is what we tax brackets and social security payments with. congress doesn't want those changed because if you changed back it would mean lower social security payments and higher taxes. but if you are looking at the economic experts, they say the pce is the more accurate measure. if you use that, outing courage and went to google the report and look on the front cover, they have the inflation-adjusted. the all-time high came in 1968. if we are talking about $15 now, we are talking about almost doubling the historical all-time high. that doesn't sound like a good idea to me in a down economy. host: tell us about your typical fast food workers' economic experience in terms of dealing with fixed -- inflation. guest: if you want to talk to a lot of our fast food workers, what you'll find is a lot of them are couch surfing. they stay on different relatives' and friends' couches. a lot of them stay at homeless shelters. sometimes it is five or six of them that stay in apartment. most of them don't perceive raises. -- don't receive raises. we have fast food workers that have worked for 10 years and still make $7.25. store forked at the five years and i make $7.25. some are not just came in the door and they make $7.25. the whole time, these companies are making more and more money. now it you see happening is you see these low-wage crews -- not just fast food workers -- all these workers coming together, and not only are they raising wages through mobilizing and being in the streets and protesting and going on strike, now they relies their voting power and relies almost half the country is in a position where they are making less than $15 an hour, which means they are struggling. so i think people's experience with inflation is everything is going up except their wages. host: let's go to atlanta and hear from archie on our democrats line. caller: yes. yes. i just wanted to say that to these corporations are making a lot of money on people. but nobody has said anything effects ofocial these low wages. a parent that has two or three kids cannot really survive on what they are being paid today. and it is hard for them. as a result of that, our kids are being left out there in the streets doing all kinds of things because their parents are not home with them helping to raise them. thank you. host: to our republican line, james in albany, california. caller: yes, hello. thanks for taking my call. i have been listening to the minimum wage that have been discussing for about half an hour now, and i think that it should go up. how can people survive? how can they have a house? how can they pay a mortgage? how can they have a new car? how can they go to school, have an education? this is my first time calling you, and i really think we should give them a break. i could have what i wanted. before that, i hardly had anything. i have seen people sleep in bags in the street. and i was almost joining them. and now, you wouldn't believe it, but i have three kids. and i have a disability with a back injury. now i'm worried about income and where money will come in. i got ahead and i'm worried yet. but my daughter told me when she got hurt at her job recently is that she doesn't understand why the illegal immigrants, or people don't have id, get free medications. host: james sherk here in washington with the heritage foundation, historically, how much has the minimum wage been part of the economic discussion? why are we saying now, for example, this push to boost the minimum wage a fairly substantial amount checkup guest: historically -- amount? guest: historically, the minimum wage does not affect most people in the country. there are, in fact, people who do get stuck there. but the vast majority of people start out at minimum wage and move their way up. the reason we are seeing such a push on this is the number of major unions, such as the service employees international union, has spent a lot of money to make this a major issue. they have been organizing this protests. you know the numbers of actual work is involved? you are looking at a few hundred workers across the country involved in these protests. that is not very much. i tip my hat to them and say it is a very successful pr issue, but a lot of money is being spent. fells, thell washington examiner writing , quotes theending president of the international franchise association, saying the spending that went towards the $15 minimum wage would, quote, only hurt workers the union says it was to represent. what is your reaction? guest: nobody knows what to these workers need better than these workers. you know, these workers that are going on strike back in 2012. these workers have put their lives on the line, they have put their jobs on the line. they have been arrested. they have gone to chicago. you know, there have been thousands and thousands of workers that have shown up at events. it is a little bit left both to thereomebody say that has been a convention where hundreds of workers have gone on strike. low-wage workers have made it the top issue in the country. if you go back to 2012, the conversations were around austerity, budget cuts. now the conversations are about low-wage workers and about companies who make too much money. and that it is time for workers to be able to get a livable wage where they can support their families. if you work 40 hours a week, you should be able to afford a roof over your head, food in your mouth," on your back -- mouth, and clothes on your back. the reason we are having this debate is because workers have been so courageous. a lot of the points that are being made here are now mute because when you look at places like birmingham, places like kansas city, places like seattle, chicago, even in the heartland, raises are being raised three dollars, four dollars, five dollars, six dollars. host: and -- guest: -- fight for it. averageu told us the fast food workers age -- how long does a fast food worker work at a fast food establishment? guest: i would say the average worker flows round a low-wage job. workerl have a fast food who has been a fast food worker for three years, but they also worked as a home care worker, kind of floating around to all these low-wage jobs. host: let me get a response from james sherk. guest: one of the things i find fairly interesting in the rhetoric from a lot of unions, like you just said they're talking about how you demand at least $15 an hour, when you look at the actual ordinances that is a cargo forre unionized businesses. chicago says it has to -- you have to now get at least $15 an hour. you saw the same thing with seattle-tacoma, $15 an hour. what a lot of unions have done -- they can go to the employers and say you know how to pay $13 $15 an hour unless you are unionized. would you like to be unionized and then you can hire workers for less? if you believe this is about dignity, why would -- there would be two major hotels that are tied to unite here for decades. shortly after that $15 went through, both the hotels' management decided they didn't want to be unionized. in those contracts have never been made public. the press has not asked for them to but there was a very strong suspicion the reason the hotels decided to be unionized does they said they don't have to pay it if you bring us in. i think that is reprehensible. host: we have a special line set aside for minimum-wage workers. (202) 748-0003 fo. harriet is in